Who wants to deal with crowded restaurants and unrealistic expectations when you could stay home and savor your true love: WINE.

It’s Valentine’s Day and you have zero plans. Perfect! Who wants to deal with crowded restaurants and unrealistic expectations when you could stay home and savor your true love: WINE. Here are six easy-going and fun bottles to call for a good time, whether you’re sharing with your cat and your favorite sesame chicken, or your partner of seemingly one million (beautiful) years.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Manoir de la Tête Rouge “K’sa Tête” Pineau d’Aunis, $26The K’sa Tête is young, dark and mysterious; the kind of silhouette that catches your eye while moving under muted neon in the back of your favorite dive bar. It’s light on its feet with the tart red fruits that are signature of Pineau d’Aunis, but is seductively spicy and wears a faintly tobacco-tinged jean jacket. It tastes like you’re drinking down a dance party with a stranger. Pop a bottle, turn the lights down low, and the volume way up on your favorite Ty Segall album. Clothing optional, favorite underwear mandatory.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Frank Cornelissen “Contadino” Vino Rosso, $28The only thing better than getting flowers, is getting yourself flowers. Instead of buying crappy roses, grab a few different varieties and take them home to build your own bouquet. Then open up a bottle of Frank Cornelissen’s “Contadino.” It tastes like a bushel of spiced violets, with smoked cranberry, and chewy rhubarb. This easy-drinker is great on its own while you’re sashaying around with petals flying, and is versatile enough to hang around for whatever take-out you ordered.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Cantina Della Volta Lambrusco, $27Nothing rivals a full heart like a full stomach, and nothing fills both quite like Italian food. And when it comes to Italian food, the Cantina Della Volta Lambrusco is your ride-or-die. From pasta to pizza to chicken parmesan, this slightly effervescent Lambrusco is always down. Bursting with red fruit and acidity, it compliments sweet red sauces, cuts through cream, and sops up all the greasy goodness from your local pizza joint.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Les Capriades Pet-Sec Rosé, $26Light those fancy, expensive candles you never use and take that bath you never have time to take with a bottle of the Les Capriades Pet-Sec Rosé. It tastes like sweet rose water and sour, carbonated raspberries, and is very refreshing to the palate while soaking and listening to Sade. I highly recommend pairing it with an extended skin care routine that utilizes every sill product in your cabinet, although my personal favorite is Aesop’s Primrose Facial Mask.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Patrick Sullivan “Bonkers” Blend, $24Weekend or not, Valentine’s Day is as good of a reason as any to brunch (AKA drink before noon). Whip up your favorite buzzy Sunday recipe and pour yourself a chilled glass of Patrick Sullivan’s Bonkers. While you wouldn’t normally think of red wines having a place at the breakfast table, Bonkers tastes like sour Fruit Loops drizzled with pink Himalayan sea salt and goes down like more delicious grapefruit juice.

Photo by Marissa A. Ross

Le Sot de l’Ange Aziaum Rouge, $26If you’re looking for a good swoon, invite a bottle of Le Sot de l’Ange Rouge over to your couch. The Aziaum is playfully energetic with streaks of mischief and complexity. It’s tart and dusty with blackberry and red currant, and is addictively smooth. It’s the perfect companion for renting Godard’s Pierrot le Fou and fantasizing about sexy crime sprees in 1960’s France.

Each of these wines also pairs perfectly with every Pixar movie ever (and crying without shame), entire tubs of hummus and/or ice cream, and going to bed at a reasonable hour without sending any embarrassing texts to ex-lovers.

A great Caesar salad recipe gets its swagger from a great Caesar dressing recipe. Squeamish about raw egg yolks and anchovies? Sorry. Yolks are what give richness to the emulsion, while anchovies provide a briny blast (and that whole umami thing). This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

It’s not about the potatoes—it’s what you do to the potatoes. In this recipe, precook them until they’re tender, then dispatch clarified butter (which is less likely to burn), heat, and time to help them become their best selves.

At Pirelli's restaurant in Rome, chef Barbara Lynch ate what was, for her, the perfect carbonara: The sauce was bright yellow from fresh eggs, and each rigatoni hid cubes of fatty guanciale. In Boston, where Lynch has five restaurants, she set out to master the dish. Her yolk-heavy recipe is beyond creamy—without cream!—with a heady mix of peppercorns (you can substitute black pepper for all and it's still great). It's unlike any clumpy carbonaras you've had. The tricks? She omits most of the egg whites; their water thins the sauce. Too much cheese overthickens it, so she gradually adds Pecorino while tossing the pasta until she hits the right consistency (the sauce should be loose enough to drag the pasta through). Lynch was right: It's a pasta worth mastering. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.